The Book of Proverbs speaks repeatedly of discipline within the family context. The father is given the responsibility of disciplining his children. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He that spareth his rod hateth his

son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." If you are a parent and do not discipline your children, that is evidence that you really don’t love them. "Wait a minute." some people say, "I love them too much to discipline them." No, the Bible says you don’t love them

enough if you don’t discipline them. It is for their good that they are disciplined. If you don’t discipline them, they will grow up to be problems for themselves and for others as well.

Discipline Involves the Family of God.

When you consider the family of God, the principle is still the same. Discipline is necessary within God’s family. It is always a manifestation of love if the discipline is handled properly. It is easy

to think of the abuses of discipline. We can think of parents who punish their children in an abusive manner. Obviously that is not what the Bible encourages. We can also think of cases of church discipline that were carried out unbiblically, but we want to focus on how we as God’s children should handle discipline.

Discipline involves the local church. The universal church is comprised of every person who has come to understand and believe that Jesus Christ died for his sins. An analogy of the Church which is used often in the New Testament is that of a body, the Body of Christ. I Corinthians 12 uses this analogy to show how believers have been placed by the Spirit of God into the Body of Christ. That is the baptism of the Spirit. Each one who has believed in Christ became part of the

Body of Christ the moment he believed in Christ. Ephesians 1:22,23 says all believers are part of the Body of Christ of which Christ Himself is the head, the one who directs all of its activities and oversees its conduct. The local church is simply the local representation and manifestation of the universal body of Jesus Christ with believers meeting in a given place to worship and serve Him.

Within the framework of the Body of Christ, the Bible says it is important for us to maintain the purity of the body and to manifest accurately and correctly the representation and manifestation of His character, holiness, and purity. To maintain that purity and holiness,

discipline is often a necessary. One of the motivating factors in discipline in the local church is to maintain the purity of the Body of Jesus Christ. Paul told the Corinthians to deal with sin in their midst

because sin is like leaven, and "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1 Cor. 5:6), In Galatians 5:9 he says the same thing -- sin must be dealt with because it pervades the body and will affect others.

So if we do not discipline sin, it will spread; as it spreads it acts contrary to the testimony we are to give concerning Christ’s character and purity. His holiness is to be manifested in His Body.

The second reason that discipline is necessitated in the Body is that fellow believers are to love one another. The great mark that we are truly children of God is that we have love for one another as God’s children. Love always necessitates discipline. If we genuinely love someone, we will do the hard thing. The hard thing is to exercise discipline.

Two Basic Principles in Discipline

Keep in mind two principles about discipline: First, discipline deals with fellow believers -- those who are part of the family. Many children are terrible brats who live in our neighborhood with our lovely angels! But the only children I discipline are mine, members of my own family, So if the neighbors’ children do something I don’t like. I don’t bring them in for a spanking. That’s the way it is with biblical discipline. Discipline is only for those who are part of the family of God.

Secondly, discipline is always for the purpose of correcting the problem. We are to discipline a believer who is living in sin to help him deal with the sin and stop it.

In Matthew 18 Christ clearly sets down the pattern for church discipline. This pattern is supported throughout the epistles of the New Testament. There are six steps in biblical church discipline.

Four of them are in Matthew 18; two are in other portions of the New Testament.

The first step is personal confrontation. "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone" (Matt 18:15). A brother is a fellow Christian, one who is part of the family of God, one who has believed in Christ and now is

functioning as part of the Body of Christ. Brother is used generically; if a sister sins the principle is the same. The condition described is that the individual sins. We will see some examples of sins that are in

view. Basically, it is any area of his life that is openly in rebellion to the Word of God.

If a Christian is in sin and you become aware of it, your responsibility is to confront that person. Your responsibility is not to go and tell someone else; it is not to discuss it with your friends. It is to go and confront that person. If God made you aware of the sin, that is His indication that He wants you to make the confrontation, He didn’t make you aware of it so you could tell me so I could make the confrontation. He made you aware of it so you could go. He puts it strongly "go and tell him his fault" (v. 18). A correction needs to be made. So you approach that person properly in love.

This is to be done "between thee and him alone" (v.15). You don’t wait until you are together with some other people. This is a private matter. You are to talk to him about the sin you have become aware of. That is a hard matter. But this is love manifesting itself. Do you love that person enough to confront him? You don’t know how he is going to respond. He may say, "Look, it’s none of your business, so pack up and neb out!"

Hopefully, that won’t be the response. Verse 15 concludes, "if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." If he responds positively, that is the end of the matter. It’s over! Be careful. You don’t have to run and tell someone what a great blessing you just had. I found out

so-and-so was in sin; I told him about it, and he abandoned it. Isn’t it wonderful! No, that would be sin on your part. You aren’t supposed to be running around gossiping. You are supposed to deal with it privately, and if he responds positively it is over, done with. No one else is to ever know about it. You rejoice and praise God for His grace and His work and how He used you, but that’s it! It is between you and that person and the Lord, and it’s over.

Luke 17:3 gives the same pattern. Galatians 6:1 similarly says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one." Restore is used of mending and repairing nets (Matt. 4:21). "Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness" (Gal. 6:1). Do not approach this person and say, "Obviously since I’ve grown so much in the Lord and don’t have the kind of problems you have, I think I can help you." No, it is to be in the spirit of gentleness or meekness, "considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (v.1). Don’t go with an arrogant attitude, but go with the desire to help, being careful that you yourself don’t get drawn into the sin you are trying to help with.

He may say, "Stay out of my life; get out." At that point you can’t say, "Wow, I did my part." No, you did step one of your part; now for step two. If he does not listen to you, the second step is to confront him with witnesses. "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more" (Matt. 18:16). You can see that love has to be at work. This is hard to do, but love is doing what is best for the other person regardless of the personal cost involved. If he would not listen to you personally, then you take one or two mature Christians with you and confront him again about his sin.

These two witnesses serve two purposes. One, they join with you in testifying against his conduct. Secondly, if he does not accept the admonition, they will be testimonies against him as the process continues. The statement at the end of verse 16, "that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" is in line with Deuteronomy 19:15 from which it is quoted. I Timothy 5:19 also says you need two or three witnesses to establish the fact. So two or three mature Christians are confronting this believer telling him he is in sin, rebelling against what God says he should be doing, encouraging him to stop the sin and offering to help him in any way they can. If he responds biblically, the matter goes no further. It is over. That means that perhaps three people plus the one being confronted know about it.

That is as far as it goes. He has named from his sin. That is the goal. The goal is not to punish him; it is to encourage him to turn from his sin. But if he does not respond even yet, your responsibility is still not over.

The third step is in Matthew 18:17: "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." The problem now must be confronted by the church. You have attempted to deal with it privately and by a small group of believers. If this person is still unwilling to deal with his sin, then you must bring it to the church....

The Church as a Whole...

We believe that at a public service it is necessary for the local body of Christ to be made aware of the individual and the sin in which he is involved.... If during that time he recognizes its seriousness and deals with it properly by turning from it, he is forgiven; the process is finished.

Cut Off From All Association

If he is still unwilling to repent, the fourth step, the last half of verse 17, must be taken: "but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." That means he is cut off from all association with believers. Believers are obligated to

disassociate themselves from him completely. There is to be a total break.

Note the seriousness of this in verse 18: "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ...Verse

18 flows out of verse 17. When discipline is administered, the believer is cut off, and God recognizes that discipline; it is part of his operation through the ... church. The binding in verse 18 is in the context of discipline. You are, in fact, binding him with his sin until he is willing to deal with it. But when you recognize that he has dealt with it, you forgive him and involve him in the body again; you manifest your love. God recognizes that too. So you can see the importance and seriousness of the matter that is in view.

Since the fourth step involves the whole church...let’s look carefully at this concept of cutting him off from all fellowship. In many cases of discipline the congregation is not aware of the situation until it is almost to this point. The opening steps are private, but when he is unwilling to listen to the church as a body and deal with his sin even after the church has been in prayer about it and confronted him with it, then he is to be cut off. To say that he is to be like "an heathen man and a publican" was clear to a Jew. The Jews had nothing to do with

heathen or publicans. There were no social relationships; there was nothing!

Any time you come to the subject of church discipline, someone is going to jump up with the verse, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone" (John 8:7), thinking that obviously wipes out discipline. However, it interests me that in I Corinthians 3 Paul tells the Corinthian church that they are carnal; they are spiritual babies; they are fleshly Christians. Yet in chapter 5 he tells them they had better exercise discipline. It doesn’t change the fact that every person is a sinner, and no believers are perfect. But willful sin is not to be tolerated in the church. Open rebellion against the Word of God in the life of a believer is to be dealt with.

A few passages in the epistles relate to the matter of cutting off the believer who is living in sin. In I Corinthians 5, we have a person who has persisted in his sin. The case in this passage discusses a man who is involved in fornication with his father’s wife. The Corinthian church wasn’t doing anything about it. Note the emphasis in verse 4 on the authority of Christ in the Body. What is done must be done in the name of our Lord Jesus with the power of the Lord Jesus. "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (vs. 4,5). You have got to exercise discipline. To turn him over to Satan is another way to say cut him off from all associations with believers. The goal is his ultimate restoration.

Unfortunately, according to verses 9-11, the Corinthians had misunderstood Paul in an earlier letter when he had said they should not associate with fornicators. The Corinthian church thought he meant they were not to associate with the world, with those who are unbelievers. At the end of verse 10 he says that can’t be, because then you would have to go out of the world. That is not a possibility. He

continues in verse 11,- "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."

How do you determine whether you are dealing with a Christian or not? You take him on the basis of his verbal testimony. If he professes to be a believer, you deal with him as a believer. Paul doesn’t get into any kind of discussion of whether this man in chapter 5 is a believer or not. He professes to be a believer, so they are to discipline him as a believer.

The emphasis of breaking any association with him continues in verse 13: "Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." That is another way of saying deliver him to Satan (v. 5), because when you cut him off from all association with believers, you push him out into the realm of the Devil. That is an awful thing to happen to a person. In 1 John 5:19 we are told, "The whole world lieth in wickedness."

What happens when the sinning believer is pushed out from the realm of Christian associations? He is pushed out into the realm of the wicked one. This will allow Satan to have certain physical liberties with him. So, cutting off all association with him is another way of saying we are going to push him out where the Devil can deal with him.

In I Timothy 1, Paul is warning Timothy about those who make a shipwreck of the faith, the truth of God. He gives some examples in verse 20: "Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." The purpose for delivering them over to Satan is not for ultimate destruction. It is so they might learn from the discipline that comes. In delivering them over to Satan, they are cut off from all association with believers as I Cor. 5 makes clear. They will learn because the discipline is very severe.

The particular error of Hymenaeus and Alexander is found in II Timothy 2:16,17. Timothy is told to "shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker." Do you see why we have to bring in discipline? What happens when you get gangrene in a part of your body? You have to cut it off, so it doesn’t spread through the body. So here the analogy of gangrene is used; you are not manifesting love when you let gangrene spread throughout the body. It has to be dealt with. Verses 17 and 18 continue, "of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."

There were moral problems in I Corinthians and doctrinal problems here.

Both come under the same kind of discipline--cut them off so their sinfulness doesn’t spread and corrupt the Body. Turn them over to the realm of Satan.

II Thessalonians 3 also says that believers who live in sin are to be cut off from association. "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us" (vs. 6). Withdraw; separate yourself from every brother who walks disorderly. Tradition here simply means the Scripture. That is the tradition they received -- what had been written in Scripture. Disassociate yourself from anyone who doesn’t function in accord with the Scripture.

The problem at Thessalonica was that some weren’t working. "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies" (vs. 11). They have to fill the time, so they act as a busybody. They were leading lazy, undisciplined lives, and they thought others ought to support them. Verses 14 and 15 say, "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." He is not an enemy any more than your children are your enemies when you spank them. They are your children. And you spank them to bring their conduct into line with what it ought to be. In the same way we are to discipline this fellow believer to bring his conduct into line biblically. Paul said that if some Thessalonian believer didn’t obey the word by this epistle to have no company with him. That is hard. So we try to come up with a better plan than God. If we don’t associate with him, we reason, how will he see the error of his way? Isn’t this the time we need to reach out to him and draw him in? Have him over a little more often? Try to get him involved a little more?

With that logic you run into the same kind of problems people run into today where psychologists and child experts have come with the idea that you shouldn’t spank your children. Don’t discipline your children; you’ll warp their poor little personalities. The Bible says, Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him" (Prov. 22:15). You will warp his little personality if you don’t apply some discipline! And it’s the same in the church. We think we have come up with a better idea, that instead of cutting him off, we ought to be trying to draw him in. But in so doing we corrupt the Body and the sin spreads. Then it becomes even harder to deal with. We reason that since we didn’t discipline that one, we had better not discipline this one, and on and on it goes. As a result, the purity of the Body is lost, and no love is manifested at all.

The real problem is that we don’t care enough about one another to do the hard thing. The reason we often do nothing is not because we love that person; it is because we love ourselves and don’t want to be inconvenienced in having to carry out the discipline. The Word is clear: cut off all association; don’t eat with him; withdraw yourself from him.

There is one other passage we will consider on the subject of disassociating yourself. Romans 16:17,18 could be talking about believers or unbelievers. It is difficult to determine with their conduct. But they are to be dealt with in the same way. And incidentally, you are always to disassociate yourself from unbelieving false teachers. The Word is clear on that. That is not discipline, it is just the order in the Christian life. In Roman 16 Paul said, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (vs. 17). There are some people who cause division. Some churches have been plagued for years by an individual or individuals who have been divisive, and no one has had the courage to deal with it. That church has suffered in its ministry because of this.

How do you deal with it? You are to avoid them. "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (vs. 18). They may be unbelievers, but if they are believers, they are to be dealt with in the same way -- have nothing to do with them. If they want to cause divisions, they can’t function here, and I can’t be their friend.

The pattern is the same, and it is clear. We saw it when Jesus spoke in Matthew. We saw it in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. We saw it in his letter to Timothy in how to conduct the church affairs. We saw it in his letter to the Thessalonians. We saw it in the letter to the Romans. We see it also in the letter to Titus. The principle is clear. A believer who lives in sin must be cut off from all association with believers. That is hard to do, but it is the biblical pattern for maintaining the purity of the Church and for manifesting love.

It often happens when the person is cut off from all association with believers that he realizes the seriousness of his sin. He may think to himself, No believer will have anything to do with me. I’m ashamed. What kind of person must I be? What is wrong with my life that no believers will have anything to do with me? I have nowhere to turn but to unbelievers, and I don ’t fit with them. He may finally say, "I’m sorry, this is sin, and I want to turn from it." What you don’t say at this point is, "Too bad; you suffer out there for six months, and then

we’ll reconsider your case." No.

II Corinthians 2 says that you immediately welcome him back. Wait a minute, you wonder; maybe he hasn’t suffered enough. Remember, the goal is not to punish him, but to restore him. As soon as he acknowledges his sin and turns from it, he is to be restored. That is the case in II Corinthians 2. One who has been disciplined wants to come back. "Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many" (v. 6). That is enough punishment. Verse 7 continues the instruction. "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." He is not to be welcomed back on probation. When he

agrees to deal with his sin and turn from it, then we welcome him back with open arms, manifesting all the love, comfort and concern that he needs now to be reestablished. "Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things" (vs. 8,9). Wrote to them about disciplining; and they had done it. Good. Paul continued, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (vs. 10,11).

We must be careful. Satan will try to get his foot in one way or another, either by causing us not to exercise discipline or by causing us to continue with discipline when it is no longer necessary. When the person deals with his sin, that is it. Welcome him back into the fellowship. Hopefully, after the fourth step of being confronted by the church and excluded from fellowship and all association with believers, he will see the gravity of the situation and turn from his sin.

These first four steps delineate our responsibility as believers... regarding church discipline: confront him personally; confront him with witnesses; confront him with the church; cut him off from all association. But that is not the end of the discipline process. When he is cut off from all association with believers, he is delivered into the realm of Satan. That is the terminology used in I Corinthians and I Timothy. Evidently this enables Satan to take certain added liberties with the believer’s physical body. Job is an example of this, though not in the context of discipline for sin. When God removed the hedge from him, Job was thrust into an area where Satan could attack his physical body. It is broader than his physical body and actually includes his property and those around him as well.

There are two additional steps of church discipline, and these are very severe. Believers in the church were used as instruments in the first four steps. In the last two steps, Satan is used by God as an instrument of discipline. The last two are much more severe than the first four. They are meant to be more severe in the same way that severity increases as you discipline your children. If they fail to respond to your light discipline, you have no choice but to increase the intensity of the discipline for their own well being.

The fifth step is that this rebellious Christian will be confronted by weakness and sickness. The problem in I Corinthians 11 was sin in the Body. They were not functioning biblically as it related to remembering the Lord’s death with the communion service. They were taking the death of the Lord lightly; they were indulging in sin while remembering the Lord’s death, thus treating his death lightly. They just continued to perpetuate the sin for which He died. They had failed to judge themselves and deal with sin in the Body. So Paul says very clearly in verse 30, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you." Those two conditions are the fifth step in church discipline. Many are weak and sickly. Weakness is a broad term including all kinds of problems brought into a believer’s life. In Job’s life, he not only suffered physical sickness, he suffered the loss of his possessions, the death of his children, and he was plagued with many problems. So physical health is removed and bodily sicknesses as well as weaknesses of all kinds are brought into the life of this person.

John 9 makes it clear that not all suffering is a result of personal sin. But the sickness mentioned in James 5 is a result of sin. It is the same as in I Corinthians 11:30. If you are rebelling against God, living with sin in your life, and find yourself sick, you can be sure that is the chastening hand of God. If you are sick because of sin, you will know it. But be careful. You can’t always determine this for other believers. If you go through the first four steps of discipline with a person and he does not respond to the discipline but turns up in the hospital seriously ill, there is every reason scripturally to believe that he is there because of step five in the discipline process. He is in the realm of Satan, and Satan is taking away his physical health.

James gives this instruction in chapter 5: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" (vs. 13-16).

The reason he calls for the elders of the church in this situation is because he is indicating he is willing to now deal with his sin. He recognizes the chastening hand of God upon his life. When he repents of his sin, the cause for the discipline is removed. So the eiders can pray for him. I John 5:16 says, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." That is the emphasis of James 5:19,20:

"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." The person wants to deal with his sin, so we can pray for his restoration. To "save a soul from death" refers to his physical life as the word "soul" often does in the New Testament. You have saved that person from death, because if he had not dealt with his sin, God would have taken his life. So I John 5:16 says there is a sin not leading unto death; that is when a person is willing to turn from his sin. Then the discipline can be lifted.

The sixth step in church discipline meted out by God, often using Satan as the instrument, is the physical death of the believer. The last part of verse 16 in I John 5 says, "There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." The elders cannot pray for everyone who is

sick. If a person who is ill is unwilling to deal with his sin, then we cannot pray for him. We cannot ask God to preserve his life or to raise him up, because obviously he is under the chastening hand of God. And the ultimate chastening for the sinning believer is physical death. That is what I Corinthians 11:30 also says: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Sleep is the word used in the New Testament exclusively for death of the believer. God had intervened to the point of taking the life of some of the believers in the congregation at Corinth because of sin.

Now be careful. Don’t think you have God over a barrel. Well, I’m going to heaven when I die, you reason. If He takes my life early, I’m just out of the rat race that much earlier, and I’ll be in heaven happy. don’t have God in a box. Read the lives of men in the Old Testament We who were disciplined by God. For example, take Moses. He had to die prematurely, and it was a costly thing for Moses. Because of sin in his life, God took his life early. We may not now perceive the tremendous cost involved in discipline that goes to this extent. But in eternity we will recognize something of the cost in rewards and in additional blessings that could have been ours if we had lived a full life faithful to God. It is not a tragedy to die at 15 or 20 or go when it is God’s time. But it is a tragedy for a believer to be disciplined by God to the point of death.

Now do you see why it is an act of love to begin the discipline process? James 5:19 and 20 say that if you see one overtaken in sin and you are able to restore him, you have saved his soul from death. Love demands that I start that process early. I am to pick him up in the beginning when I first become aware of his sin so it does not degenerate to the point of needing the most severe kind of discipline. It is not an act of love when I don’t discipline. It is not an act of love if we as a body don’t discipline each other. It is an act of selfishness that would let a person go on and have to suffer the ultimate chastening when we have been unwilling to intervene.

This process sounds hard and almost cruel. But it is really love. If I were in sin, it would really be for my good if you would discipline me. You don’t do your children a favor not disciplining them. You ruin their lives. And you don’t help me to grow and mature if you let me persist in sin without dealing with it; that is true for every believer. God’s goal in discipline is always to bring us to maturity in Him.

Hebrews 12 discusses the discipline of the Lord. The writer is quoting from the Old Testament telling these Hebrews that they ought to appreciate the discipline of the Lord. Verse 6 tells us that He disciplines everyone whom He loves. Then verses 7 and 8 say, "If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." If God doesn’t discipline you for sin in your life, you had better examine yourself. Are you really a child of God? He disciplines His children.

If you are sinning and thinking you are getting away with it, maybe you aren’t His child at all. If the neighbor’s child thinks he is getting away with something because I don’t discipline him, he’s not getting away with anything. He’s not my child! Anybody who is a child of God gets disciplined. If you think you are getting away with your sin, either the hard discipline is coming later or you are not His child at all.

Hebrews 12 continues: "Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (v. 9). Verse 10 says, "For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." You have to appreciate that. Discipline is for our good that we might be partakers of his holiness. Whether that discipline is meted out through the church or through the direct means of God Himself, perhaps using the Devil. Verse 11 gives the goal: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." The goal is the peaceable fruit of righteousness. We should desire that all believers be built up in His holiness and righteousness. To accomplish that will necessitate discipline at all levels. Sometimes it will mean you may have to take the initiative to talk to me about sin in my life, or I may have to take the initiative with you. Sometimes it will mean that the discipline must get more severe, but it is always for that goal of righteousness.

Balanced with this, obviously, we want to have the kind of emphasis on the Word that will produce righteousness in the life so that discipline won’t be as necessary. But discipline is part of the maturing process for believers. SO if we really love one another, then the Word demands that we discipline one another.

The writer of Proverbs wrote, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (13:24). "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell" (23:13,14). The goal in our process is that we partake of "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11). We need to pray that God will give us the wisdom, the courage and the love to exercise discipline in a biblical way wherever it is necessary.

--By Pastor Gilbert W. Rugh, Ph. D.

Much attention today is spent devoted to seeing things from a different perspective. Stories are written from every perspective imaginable, from an animal’s perspective, a dog’s perspective, or even that of a pig! It is often argued that one must look from the perspective of one experiencing a certain thing in order to be really able to make accurate judgments about that one.

Consider how evil the Old Testament animal sacrificial system was, if you looked at it from the animal’s perspective!

Absolute truth and judgment have been replaced by relative opinions and feelings. "You don’t know what I have gone through! IF you were in my shoes..." –rings out all too often as guilty parties attempt to pass themselves off as victims, rather than disobedient transgressors.

Perspective has become the law by which all things are judged today. Viewing crime from the criminal’s perspective always diminishes the seriousness of its penalty, and putting one’s self in the place of a bad guy presents a favoritism based on "subjective" feelings.

"Really, face it" the average lawyer argues, "if you had killed your five children in a rage of anger and then felt a little sorrow for having done so, wouldn’t you want some forgiveness from the judge and jury to spare your life and understand what horrible things forced you into doing such a thing?" The average man on the street would, and that is how he has come to judge others. Such a verdict, however, completely dismisses and rejects the law, justice and righteousness of God.

Perspective is one of those things which has no bounds, limits, or ends. There are millions of perspectives to look at a matter. One could look at a matter from a bird’s perspective, from an alien’s perspective, or a rock musician’s perspective. One could look at something from a far-away or close-up perspective. One could look at something from a child’s perspective, or an old oak tree’s perspective. There is absolutely no end to the laws based upon relative perspective.

The story is told of six blind men and an elephant. One day, the men came upon a mysterious thing, each at a different perspective. One felt his leg, and came to the conclusion that such a thing must be a tree. Another blind man felt the tail and thought the mysterious creature to be a snake. On and on the very sincere blind men each gave his best assessment of the elephant – from the perspective of blind men—and each came to a different conclusion – not because they didn’t try very hard and answer very sincerely, but because their blindness was the greatest obstacle to a true and right perspective of the truth. While each was sincere and diligent in his perspective, each was totally wrong. Ask the elephant.

To look at something and see it for what it is -- that is the true and right perspective. But how do we know how to judge what is what? That’s why the Bible says that men who do not fear God are so completely void of a true and right perspective that they don’t have even the beginning of knowledge, wisdom or understanding.

A school which does not teach the fear of God can produce all manner of degrees, certificates and awards – but according to God (if His perspective matters)—such a place is not producing a true education.

Do you really want a doctor who has been through years of medical school, but still concludes man came from an amoebae and has unnecessary body parts, and believes the body is evolving rather than deteriorating -- Do you want him operating on your body? With all his education, he is a fool and really has no knowledge, wisdom or understanding, because he does not fear God. He cannot have a true perspective on anything. He might come close -- like any one of the blind men describing the elephant, but his blindness is more destructive than his diligent analysis.

One child, who fears God and obeys his parents, has a better medical perspective to living long, than thousands of doctors who don’t even have the beginning of knowledge, wisdom or understanding.

There is no real or true perspective on anything but God’s perspective. To look at something from all the vantage points of men and to come to a different conclusion than God is to be wrong.

There are only two real perspectives—the right and the wrong; the true and the false; the accurate and the inaccurate, the bull’s-eye and anywhere outside of the bull’s eye. All the devil had to do to get Eve to sin was to cause her to look at things from a different perspective than God’s word.

God, however, never loses. All the word combined can add up all their perspectives, all their degrees, all their supposed "science" "Medicine" and "technology", but they shall never prove Him wrong. God always wins. And if He has chosen what looks foolish from man’s perspective, then all those who become fools are really the wise ones indeed—it’s all a matter of perspective.

The old philosopher Plato came to many conclusions that were very close to Biblical truths, yet for all the seeming wisdom the old Sage had, he died and went to hell. As close as his perspective came to the truth, he still missed it. Realistically (looking at him from the true and right perspective), it would have been better for him to have been a dumb, ugly, ignorant, forgotten believer in Christ, than to become the wisest fool in hell. What good did all his seeming earthly wisdom? It’s all a matter of perspective.

Solomon, the wisest man outside of Christ, said that a living dog is better than a dead lion. It’s all a matter of perspective. Jesus asked what it would profit a man if he should gain the entire world but lose his own soul. It’s all a matter of true perspective.

Perspective is sight; it is vision; it is knowledge; it is discernment; it is discrimination.

Take for example two old men— one is rich and the other poor. The rich man has a fresh baked loaf of bread, while the poor man has a hard, moldy piece of bread. From a seemingly true perspective—the rich old man looks better off than the poor old man, but is he really? Suppose the poor man’s body is in need of just the exact amount of penicillin that is in the mold of the old bread, and the rich man’s body needs penicillin too, but has none. Now, who is really better off? It’s all a matter of perspective.

Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said, "Give God and not the devil the benefit of the doubt." The problem with people is that they reject God’s perspective for their own, as if they were wiser than God. Rather than ceasing from their own wisdom, as the Scripture commands, they behave as if they were little gods, trusting in their own hearts and in the wisdom of men, controlling and directing their own lives. But are they really? Time will tell.

When the servant of Elisha lifted up his eyes and saw the enemy troops, his heart was sincerely and sorely troubled, until Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes – after which time he saw with a true perspective – He saw the hills full with the troops of heaven. They that be with us are more than they that be with them! It’s all a matter of perspective—the right perspective.

But how can men really see and understand if they are blind and miserable and wretched and naked, while they imagine themselves to be open-minded, honest, perfectly OK? Their destruction is their perspective. It is not until sinners own themselves to be what they really are in the sight of a holy and just and righteous God, that there is any hope for them at all. Jesus told the Pharisees of his day that if they acknowledged that they were blind, that would be proof that they could see, but in maintaining they could see, it was simple proof that they were blind.

Perspective is so crucial that it determines the success or the failure of every endeavor men undertake. A man who sees something the wrong way, cannot succeed, no matter how hard he tries.

If a million people imagined their wishful thinking could change the Law of Gravity, and if that million people decided to prove their unity, courage, strength and wisdom by all standing motionless beside their roof tops – would their cooperation, organization, fund-raising,

special classes, coordination and deliberation prove Gravity to have ceased? Or, would it be revealed that a million organized, serious, determined people can be wrong?

The world imagines the numbers increase the reliability and legitimacy of their perspective, but hell has already proven that wrong.

How often is the biggest church considered to be the most spiritually- led and blessed of the Lord, yet the same people don’t apply their perspective to other religions? Is Christianity really growing faster than Mohamedanism or Mormonism? Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said, "One man plus God equals a majority." It’s God’s perspective that matters.

Whose perspective really mattered in the days of Noah? Even the animals had more spiritual discernment than those who refused to listen to a righteous man.

Whose perspective really mattered in the city of Sodom, where there were many views, none siding with Lot? Did their laughter and mockery have legitimacy? No more than people trying to prove Gravity doesn’t exist. Fools have a short time so laugh – until their perspective wears away like a mirage in a desert.

If a million self-professing Fundamentalists persuaded a million followers to walk an aisle, sign a card, raise a hand and join a movement, would God make an exception just for Fundamentalists and allow followers to be saved by works instead of by His grace alone, through faith alone? Numbers, degrees, sincerity or opulence does not legitimize a wrong perspective. God is no respecter of person or perspectives.

The perspective of a man, a church or an organization will determine what they do. A man who believes his church is blind will preach to them in light such knowledge. A man who has lame people come to his church will deal with them as lame people.

A shepherd can take care of his sheep because he sees them for what they are -- he has a true perspective of them and knows all about them. He knows that they can wander off and die. He knows that wolves are a harm to his sheep, and he takes action accordingly. He knows that sheep eat grass, so he doesn’t lead them to muddy swamps. A shepherd with a perspective that his sheep are really pigs is not going to be a help to his sheep because his perspective is wrong.

Now, the Bible already tells us what kind of perspective people will have in the last days -- They shall err greatly not knowing the scriptures. They shall be lovers of their own selves. They shall be deceived. They shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned to fables. They shall espouse a science -- falsely so called. They shall not endure the perspective of sound doctrine but heap teachers who will give them a perspective they want to hear.

We believe that the perspective held by most sincere professing Christians today is so far removed from the word of God that they are deceived and evidence no fruit or proof of God’s saving grace at all.

We believe that churches all across this land are so full of blind people who think that they see, that they will all fall for the Antichrist and be damned to hell.

We believe that radio preachers and evangelists and pastors in churches who assume that their audiences are mostly made up of regenerate souls -- we believe that they are so deceived that they are blinder than bats -- which at least have sonar. We believe that Fundamental Baptist churches are so far off-base on what Christianity is all about, that they are made up of philistines who are being entertained on their way to hell, where the deceived and the deceivers shall burn until the angels have a funeral around the throne of God.

We believe that the entire modern Fundamental body of professing Christians today is no more saved than Rome was in the days of Martin Luther.

We believe that Pastors are calling themselves, but they haven’t been called of God, and their filthy lucre is evidence; their congregation of wolves is evidence; their sinful members who live like the world and expect to be respected as born-again children of God give evidence.

We believe we are on the verge of the end, and there aren’t going to be many saved at all, but a great multitude of deceived hypocrites whom God shall destroy for their mockery against his law, his gospel and his Son. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.